Improvement in life-preservers



D. KAH NWEILER.

LIFE-PRESERVER.

. No. 192,832. Patented J'ulylO, 1877.

NJErERS, FHOTO UTHOGRAFHER WASHINGTON, D c.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

DAVID KAHNWEILER, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

IMPROVEMENT IN LlFE-PRESERVERS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 192,832, dated July 10, 1877; application filed May 4, 1877.

tudinal section, of my improved life-preserver.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in both figures.

This invention has for its object to produce a compact and durable life-preserver from grated or reduced cork, and one which, when placed in the water, will not swell to undue or inconvenient proportions.

The invention consists, principally, in first compressing the bags which are filled with the grated or reduced cork, and in then stitching or riveting them through the cork, to confine the same in the compressed and compact condition and in the desired shape. The result is a lifepreserver having the prescribed weight of six pounds in compact form, which form it is not liable to lose in the water. When the grated or reduced cork is, as heretofore, placed in the bags and then compressed, it will, as soon as it is thrown in the water, swell to a most cumbersome and inconvenient form; but by stitching or riveting through the compressed substance, the form and size are preserved as fully as though the bags were filled with solid pieces of cork. Such solid pieces, however,

are very expensive, and are, moreover, apt to cut through the canvas of the bags, especially when kept in damp localities.

The letter A represents the life-preserver, composed of eight (more or less) jointed sections or bags, or a, 8270. Each of these bags is filled with small pieces of cork, which have been reduced by grating or grinding to the desired degree. After a bag is filled, it is properly closed and then subjected to a severe pressure, under a hydraulic or other press, until it assumes a flat form and is quite compact and hard. In this condition each bag is stitched or riveted through and through, each stitch or rivet b extending from one side to the other, and passing through the compressedcork filling.

d d are straps stitched to the end sections a at of the life-preservcr. They serve to fasten the life-preserver to the body, and are an improvement on the continuous belt usually employed, as they render the apparatus reversible, which it is not where the belt extends along oneface of the life-preserver. They are also far less expensive than the ordinary belt, being much shorter than the same.

I claim as my invention- 1. The mode of manufacturing life-preservers herein described-that is, by first filling the bags or pockets of the usual case with granulated cork, then compressing the same under a pressure which consolidates the particles, and then maintaining the cork in its compressed condition by sewing through the casing from side to side, as set forth.

2. A life-preserver constructed of one or more bags, at, which are filled with grated or reduced cork, compressed into flat cakes, and stitched or riveted after being compressed, the stitches extending through the compressed cork, substantially as specified.

DAVlD KAHNWEILER.

Witnesses:

ERNEST (J. WEBB, JAMES TURK. 

